Online casino and poker rooms in New Jersey secured a third consecutive £100m month through May, as the Garden State’s sport betting ecosystem saw a surge in wagers during an expectedly slow month.
As the region’s total revenue grew 290.4 per cent year-on-year to $374.2m (2020: $95.8m), igaming revenue reached $108.2m, which is up a little under half a percentage point from April’s $107.7m.
Year-over-year, online casino and poker revenue is up 25.9 per cent from $85.9m in May 2020, with this latest performance yielding $18.9m in state and local taxes.
Borgata, which includes the BetMGM brand, continued to hold its place at the top of tree with $32.8m, edging out Golden Nugget’s $31.1m. Resorts Digital rounds off the top three with $21.5m.
On a land-based basis there’s no change month-on-month, with Borgata leading the way with revenue of $48.6m, ahead of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City and Ocean Casino Resort with $34.9m and $24.6m, respectively.
“Even as Atlantic City lifts pandemic-related limits and retail revenue slowly returns, online casinos continue to hold onto the gains made over the last year,” Eric Ramsey, analyst for PlayNJ.com, said.
“Online revenue has clearly been resilient, but hopefully the retail market can sustain this return to pre-pandemic levels.”
As New Jersey’s online and retail sportsbooks celebrated the third anniversary of sports betting in the state, an unexpected surge in wagers was witnessed during what has been widely documented as a slower period.
Bettors placed $814.3m in wagers at the region’s sportsbooks during the month, which is up 591.1 per cent from $117.8m taken in May 2020 and 8.9 per cent from $748m in April. This produced $52.9m in revenue, up 433.6 per cent year-on-year from $9.9m, and yielded $7.9m in taxes.
FanDuel Sportsbook/PointsBet topped online operators with $29.8m in gross revenue, with Meadowlands/FanDuel leading the retail books with $4.8m.
Since launching on June 14, 2018, New Jersey’s sportsbooks have generated $16bn in bets, $1.1bn in gross revenue, and $159.4m in taxes. From June 2018 through April 2021, Nevada took in $14.5bn in bets and $909.3m in operator revenue.
“New Jersey’s sports betting market has not only grown into the largest in the US, but it has evolved into the state that is least affected by the seasonality of sports betting,” added Ramsey.
“No market can entirely escape the natural ebbs and flows, of course. But New Jersey is less reliant on football and sports betting holidays than any other major US market.”